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Add Eq docs #1788
Add Eq docs #1788
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--- | ||
layout: docs | ||
title: "Eq" | ||
section: "typeclasses" | ||
source: "kernel/src/main/scala/cats/kernel/Eq.scala" | ||
scaladoc: "#cats.kernel.Eq" | ||
--- | ||
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# Eq | ||
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Show is an alternative to the standard Java `equals` method. | ||
It is defined by the single method `eqv`: | ||
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```scala | ||
def eqv(x: A, y: A): Boolean | ||
``` | ||
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In Scala it's possible to compare any two values using `==` (which desugars to Java `equals`). | ||
This is because `equals` type signature uses `Any` (Java's `Object`) to compare two values. | ||
This means that we can compare two completely unrelated types without getting a compiler error. | ||
The Scala compiler may warn us in some cases, but not all, which can lead to some weird bugs. | ||
For example this code will raise a warning at compile time: | ||
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```tut:book:fail | ||
42 == "Hello" | ||
``` | ||
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While this code will compile without a hitch: | ||
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```tut:book | ||
"Hello" == 42 | ||
``` | ||
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Ideally, Scala shouldn't let us compare two types that can never be equal. | ||
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As you can probably see in the type signature of `eqv`, it is impossible to compare two values of different types, | ||
eliminating these types of bugs altogether. | ||
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The `Eq` syntax package also offers some handy symbolic operators: | ||
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```tut:book | ||
import cats.implicits._ | ||
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1 === 1 | ||
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"Hello" =!= "World" | ||
``` | ||
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Implementing `Eq` instances yourself for every data type might seem like huge drawback compared to only slight gains of typesafety. | ||
There was a problem hiding this comment. Choose a reason for hiding this commentThe reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more. we could mention There was a problem hiding this comment. Choose a reason for hiding this commentThe reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more. Done :) There was a problem hiding this comment. Choose a reason for hiding this commentThe reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more. not sure this should go in the documentation, but I recently found this useful: implicit def productEq[A <: Product]: Eq[A] = Eq.fromUniversalEquals unless I'm missing something (and if so, please let me know!) There was a problem hiding this comment. Choose a reason for hiding this commentThe reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more. That's pretty interesting, seems like it would work for all case classes! Any known downsides? There was a problem hiding this comment. Choose a reason for hiding this commentThe reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more. not that I know. We're using it in a project since a few weeks and so far so good. That said, I'm far from being an expert :) There was a problem hiding this comment. Choose a reason for hiding this commentThe reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more. I agree it's worth mentioning in the documentation. There was a problem hiding this comment. Choose a reason for hiding this commentThe reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more. Added :) |
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Fortunately for us, we have two great options. One option is to use inbuilt helper functions. | ||
Another option is to use a small library called [kittens](https://github.com/milessabin/kittens), which can derive a lot of type class instances for our data types including `Eq`. | ||
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The first option using `Eq.fromUniversalEquals` only defers to `==` and works like this: | ||
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```tut:book | ||
import cats.kernel.Eq | ||
import cats.implicits._ | ||
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case class Foo(a: Int, b: String) | ||
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implicit val eqFoo: Eq[Foo] = Eq.fromUniversalEquals | ||
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Foo(10, "") === Foo(10, "") | ||
``` | ||
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For an example using Kittens check out the [kittens repo](https://github.com/milessabin/kittens). |
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s/Show/
Eq
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Whooops!